The latest news of a literary nature – and where our Dear Jane figures in – is the opening of the Nora Roberts’s Inn Boonsboro in Boonsboro, Maryland on February 17, 2009. Ms. Roberts, the author of over 170 novels (also under the name of J.D. Robb), has been renovating this seven bedroom bed & breakfast over the past two years. Wanting each of the rooms to be decorated with a fictional romantic theme, her biggest problem was finding in the literary canon seven happy couples! As she says,

Buttercup & Westley [William Goldman’s The Princess Bride] ~ an Old World style, fun and charming

Buttercup & Westley ~ The Princess Bride

There is also a non-themed suite called the Penthouse ~ lush, plush and baronial.

See the Inn Boonsboro website, where you can view some of the rooms [but alas! not the Darcy’s]; but you can take a video tour of the Inn. And just to whet your appetite, read this description of the Elizabeth & Darcy room:

Miss Bennett [sic] and Mr. Darcy would certainly approve of the distinction with which we’ve appointed our Regency-style guest room. The king bed, adorned by a richly-appointed head- and footboard, invites you to slip under the soft cashmere throw, settle back on our multitude of pillows to enjoy the 32″ flat screen TV. Or curl up with a book on the sumptuous velvet side chair with a cup of complementary tea or glass of wine and enjoy the peace of an English country house.

The exquisitely refined bath is a fine marriage of English charm and modern contrivance with a traditional claw-foot slipper tub designed for long bubble baths and a shower enhanced by four body jets. Let our English Lavender bath amenities transport you back to the courtly and romantic age of Pride and Prejudice.

Prices range from $220-280. / weekday night; $250-300. / weekend night; there are also various packages.

Read (finally! I’ve owned it for months) the first in the news Rhys Bowen series: Her Royal Spyness. It is a cute and quaint 1930s mystery with Lady Georgiana Rannoch, 34th in line to the throne. And one man she meets along the way: Darcy O’Mara. Hmm… wonder where those names came from???

Sobering to think that Abraham Lincoln, whose 200th anniversary of his birth we celebrated on 12 February, was born in the year that Jane Austen moved to Chawton – which is seen as the impetus she required to revise and write anew her six major novels.

A note to JASNA-Vermonters: check out the Members’ Page: we’ve some new contenders for naming our chapter newsletter; The Pemberley Post has a nice ring to it. Add YOUR suggestions!

Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Quebec is offering a Pride and Prejudice Symposium – three speakers on Saturday, March 14; a new P&P play on Saturday night; a reception with the playwright on Sunday. We will post information on the events page soon. If you want to see just the play, it runs from March 11-15. Performances held in the Théâtre Centennial Theatre. See: www.ubishops.ca.

Have been thinking about how we might do an online book discussion – any ideas, let us know. With all this Pride & Prejudice in the air, that might be a good novel to begin with.

Two items I forgot! (too many bits of paper…): Looking up something totally different, I found some interesting and I trust useful “clothing” websites: Regency Fashion (which Deb had already found and posted on the sidebar) and at the Met Museum. If you browse around the Met’s site, you will find other centuries and even undergarments.